Jawbones
by Mockingjay13
Summary: It all started with an exceptional pair of jawbones... James Sirius Potter/OC fic
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hi. I don't own anyone you recognize. Any characters/plot you are familiar with are from the brilliant mind of J.K. Rowling, although if you're here you probably know that... Hope you like the story :) **

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For the most part, I'm an eye girl. I'll crush on any guy with deep blue eyes, green eyes, or exceptionally hazel eyes. And nice hair. And cologne. I take that back, I just love men in general. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not a whore. I'm actually a very quiet, very average Hufflepuff. I've never dated a guy, never held hands with a guy, hell I don't even have any guy friends. I just crush on almost every guy I come into contact with. Unfortunately it's always been one-sided.

Every year it's the same old song and dance. I get a crush on some stupid boy, though some stupid twist of fate. First year it was Ken McCarthy, the super smart Ravenclaw who sat with me in Charms, we became friends but it faded after first year. I think tackling my friend, in front of him, to keep her from telling him I liked him might have been a factor. Second year it was Andrew Toole, a Gryffindor with eyes bluer than the ocean. I crushed on him for two years, and might have borderline stalked him. To my credit, I was young and, well. Fine I've got nothing. I'm an obsessive stalker. You are reading my diary though, so, you've got nothing either. Next was Anthony Nehme, an athletic Hufflepuff. He flirted with me a bit, but he transferred schools halfway through the year. Adam Swint, also a Gryffindor with blue eyes, drew a heart on my notes in class and then turned me down and mocked me in front of the entire Potions class when I asked him to Hogsmeade. And on and on and on it goes. Come to think of it, maybe I just have a thing for guys whose names start with A. The worst part is, I know how stupid and futile it is to try and get their attention. I have plain black hair that hangs halfway down my back, boring brown eyes, and light copper skin. My figure's not the best, but the real killer is my shyness. I'm fairly pretty, but I never get noticed because I'm so quiet. I swear, my animagus form would probably be a mouse, or a flobberworm. There are some really ugly Slytherins who get so much more attention just because they open their mouth (and sometimes other body parts, but that's another story). Somehow I gained the reputation of the weird, awkward Hufflepuff and no matter what I try, I can't get rid of it.

But this year it'll be different, because this year there will be no more useless boys and no more awkward Hufflepuff Anjali. I'm finished with pointless crushes, and I'm determined not to crush on anyone. It's my 7th year, and I'm going to let it all out. Watch out Hogwarts, here comes Anjali Bose.

Shit, that sounded so much more intense in my head.

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**AN: I need help deciding where this story should go, though it will take probably a good amount of time to get there, quick poll: should she get the guy or not? REVIEW PLEASE!**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I still don't own anything you recognize...**

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Steam billows around the platform, making people appear as if out of thin air. I give a quick hug to my parents and wave goodbye as I jump on the train, my mom snapping pictures like crazy. I drag my trunk as fast as I can, which is about as fast as a one legged snail (is that even possible?) since my arm strength is pathetic, to my usual compartment. I push the door open and instantly trip over a furry mass.

"Shit! Taiga! Mind your demon-cat!" I cry falling onto a seat. Taiga brushes her short dark blond hair out of her face and scoops up her cat.

"Haha Anjali, just because you can't walk four feet with out causing a catastrophe doesn't mean Jinx is out to get you," she laughs petting the demon-cat.

"I swear he hates me! Remember last year? He nearly sliced my arm off!"

"Yeah, you really should have checked before flopping onto my bed, you know he likes my pillow. Do you know where Emery is? The train's going to leave in a few minutes."

"She probably just woke up" I chuckle. The door slides open to reveal a portly girl with shoulder length brown hair, already in her robes.

"Ashton!" Taiga and I shout at the same time. We pause to playfully glare at one another before bombarding our friend with questions.

"What was Italy like?"

"Wow, you look so tan—"

"Meet any cute guys?"

"Did you see—"

"When did you get back?"

"Guys, guys calm down," Ashton chuckles as she stows her trunk. "We've got 6 hours to catch up! But it was a-freakin-mazing, and yes, I met someone and that's all I'm saying until Emery gets here. Speaking of, doesn't the train leave in about, 8 minutes?" She asks glancing at her watch.

"I'm betting on 10:54 this year," Taiga smirks.

"No, I think she'll cut it closer. Two sickles on 10:58-" I break off as the door bangs open.

"Gah! I made it!" A blue-eyed girl bursts into the compartment, her face almost as red as her hair.

"Damn! You couldn't have waited 4 more minutes?" I grumble fishing two sickles out of my pocket and tossing them at Taiga.

"Thanks, I try harder next time," she replies sarcastically, collapsing next to me.

"So who's the lucky guy this year Anjali?" Emery grins up at me.

"No one this year. I'm determined I won't crush on anyone," I declare confidently.

"Yeah, you say that now. I give it two days," Ashton says.

"Nah, it'll take at least a week and a half this year. She seems genuinely determined," Taiga interjects.

"3 Galleons on 5 days," bets Emery

Honestly, and these are my best friends. The faith they have in me is astounding. Then again I might have pledged something similar last year…

"Speaking of boys, who did you meet in Italy, Ash?" I wiggle my eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh my Merlin, you'll never believe this…"

The train ride passes in a blur of laughter, brightly colored candy wrappers, and countless games of exploding snaps. It only feels like seconds later that we rush to get out robes on (except Ashton, that over-organized loon) and tumble out into the horseless carriages.

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**AN: please let me know what you think! Reviews make my day :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: HI! I'm still alive I promise! I just moved in to college, literally, it's the first night(or morning rather) and I'm uploading this instead of sleeping. SO I expect reviews! Seriously though, please review. It motivates me to keep uploading, even if it's just like a smiley face, although I would be even more grateful for helpful criticism/comments! Now ONWARDS!**

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Laughing about the poor soggy first years, who had probably gotten soaked in the rain on their boat ride to the castle, I pull my friends to our usual area of the Hufflepuff table. As we sit down, waving to other friends, Professor Longbottom leads the terrified first years through the doors of the Great Hall.

"Appleby, Elena" Professor Longbottom calls. A small girl with short blond hair squelches her way up to the stool, leaving a trail of water in her path. She is quickly sorted into Ravenclaw, and almost slides to her new table after slipping on her own puddle.

"Looks like the lot of 'em got drenched," Taiga sniggers.

Professor Longbottom continues to read off names, though I tune him out, just clapping whenever I hear cheering erupt around me. After a waterlogged "Hardy, Patrick" is sorted into Gryffindor, Emery elbows me. "I'm bored. Entertain me," she says, poking me. "Fine, 2 knuts this one's in Hufflepuff," I reply, eyeing the short brown haired boy walking up to the stool. We're gambling addicts, so what? "Yeah, now we're talking. I say Slytherin. What about you Ashton? Taiga?" Emery says pulling a piece of parchment and a self-inking quill out of her pocket. She writes each of our names on top of the page as the sorting hat bellows "HUFFLEPUFF!" "Yay!" I say, doing a little jig. Emery puts a mark under my name, "Okay next one. I vote Gryffindor." We all place our bets, even getting a few neighbors to join in. By the time "Zullo, Allison" is sorted into Slytherin I've won 24 knuts. Headmistress McGonagall rises to speak and go over the rules as usual. "C'mon Minnie! We know this stuff. I'm STARVING!" a voice calls out in the otherwise silent hall. To no one's surprise it's James Sirius Potter, the first son of the famous Harry Potter. "Detention, Mr. Potter," McGonagall replies without missing a beat.

"He's such an arrogant git," Ashton whispers. "Honestly I'm surprised he can even fly with that big head of his." I break out in hushed giggles, and end up choking on my spit. Taiga raises an eyebrow at me from across the table. Food appears on the table, and I lunge for my goblet, draining the water.

"Spaz much?" Emery says, filling her plate.

"Oh shush," I retort grabbing the roll she was reaching for.

The rest of the feast passes fairly smoothly and soon we are climbing into the cozy Hufflepuff common room, a round earthy room, with low ceilings. Pots of exotic plants are placed among overstuffed sofas and squashy armchairs, all yellow and black of course. It is my favorite room in the castle, always warm, sunny, and cheery. I flop onto my bed, as soon as we enter our dorm.

"Gah, I ate too much," I sigh loudly. "Why did you guys let me eat that last piece of treacle tart? I thought you were my friends."

"I tried! You practically ripped my hand off!" Emery cries pulling her pjs on.

"Yeah well… I get dibs on the bathroom!" I scream the last part racing to the bathroom and pulling the door closed behind me.

We stay up late that night lying on our beds, tossing Bernie Bott's every flavor beans and chocolate frog cards at each other and talking about nothing in particular.

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**A.N. Sorry this was so pathetically short. Please do review, I have another chapter pretty much finished up and it'll be up as soon as I get at least 3 reviews. This story has like 60 views for this month alone, so I'm fairly confident you guys can manage 3 reviews. Also I'm not JK Rowling, and the common room description is from pottermore/the Hufflepuff wiki page **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: PLEASE REVIEW! I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER :) and p.s. I'm obviously not JK Rowling**

Beep. Beep. Beep beep. Beep Beep. BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEE EEEP.

"AGHH!" I jump up and promptly fall out of bed, landing on the cold hardwood floor with a thud. _Great. What a way to start 7__th__ year. Wait?_ Start_ 7__th__ year?_ I glance at the alarm clock, 7:39.

"MERLIN'S PANTS! GUYS, GET UP IT'S 7:39!" I shout, slamming my hand on the alarm clock to shut it off, and scrambling to pull my clothes on. _Sweet, not only did I probably bruise my tailbone, we have 20 minutes to get breakfast and get to class._

"EMERY!" I shout as I yank the blanket off the bed closest to mine.

"What in the name of—" Ashton walks out of the bathroom, already dressed and ready to go.

"HEY!" Emery yells, interrupting Ashton.

By now Taiga is up and I rush into the bathroom as Emery and Taiga quickly pull their robes on. We grab our bags and sprint to the Great Hall. Luckily the Hufflepuff common room is close to the kitchens so we grab a few muffins on our way. Bursting into the Great Hall I locate Headmistress McGonagall passing out schedules by the Slytherin table.

"Professor McGonagall!" I shout, running over to her.

"Good Morning Miss Bose. Miss Smith, Miss Beckham, Miss Finnegan." She greets, acknowledging Emery, Taiga, and Ashton as they catch up to me.

"Sorry we're late Professor," I pant, breathing heavily. Running's really not my thing. If I could, I would feed it to a basilisk and no one would ever have to run again. I hate running, can you tell?

"Here are your schedules," She nods, distributing them among us.

Eagerly we compare schedules. Hogwarts has modernized since the war. While the four long house tables remain, the unspoken rules about sitting only at one's house table have disintegrated. Another new addition is the mixed classes. Instead of putting the entire year of one house in the same class, everything is mixed. Unfortunately that means Ashton, Taiga, Emery and I might not be in the same classes. I look over my schedule, and am pleased to see that I have at least one of my friends in each class.

"Onwards!" I say, linking arms with my friends and skipping down the corridor to Ancient Runes. We find out pretty soon that skipping while linked together doesn't work very well and we end up in a jumbled pile. As I untangle myself from the others the warning bell rings.  
"Crap! Professor Buierig is going to murder us!" Ashton says starting to run to our classroom.

"Nah, slow down. I was late like every day last year and I'm still here," Emery replies. Ashton slows to a fast walk as we turn a corner.

"Yeah, but she's going to be even more stressed out and bi-polar this year since we have NEWTs coming up," Taiga adds. Professor Buierig was a fairly young teacher, just hired by the school a few years ago as an assistant professor. This would only be her second year teaching NEWT students, and she didn't deal well with stress. It would be fair to say that not many students actually liked her, our little group included.

After narrowly avoiding being late for Ancient Runes, we slid into our usual seats in the back of the room. This was really the only class that I was myself in. For some reason in every other class I found it hard to even raise my hand to answer a question, it was like I just closed up to everyone who wasn't Taiga, Ashton or Emery. I hate how I can't articulate my feelings or thoughts, that I don't show my emotions well, that I feel like I can't talk. I feel so self conscious all the time. It's exhausting to be triple thinking everything. I feel like for anything that has happened, is happening, or could possibly happen, my mind is just constantly cranking out scenarios and plans. For any little action, I'm planning, and over thinking. But I can't stop it. Sometimes everything, every action, every emotion, feels so forced, like I step out of myself and look at me and wonder what the hell I'm doing and how it means nothing in the passage of time. But that's just how I am.

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The first day is the usual instructions and expectations in each class, and by the time I reach Transfiguration with Ashton I'm ready to slice my ears off if I hear how hard NEWTs are going to be. Unfortunately Professor Thomas has decided to set a seating chart for the year, so I'm seated next to Fred Weasley and Ashton is on the side of the room by James Potter. Fred is nice enough, but I feel really bad for Ashton. Gianna D'Orzo a 7th year Gryffindor, who is also best friends with Fred Weasley, is sitting to my left. She's friendly enough and we strike up a conversation as we wait for Professor Thomas to finish taking attendance.

"Okay class," Professor Thomas begins, "now this year you have your NEWTs…"

And then I start to tune him out. After the spiel about how hard we are going to have to work this year, we take a quiz reviewing last year's material and then break out into smaller groups to go over the quiz. Ashton makes her way over to Gianna and me looking very unhappy.

"What's wrong, Ash?" I ask frowning.

"James freakin' Potter's entire existence," she groans, slumping into her seat. "He is SO annoying. He kept trying to look over my shoulder at my quiz. It's not even graded! And he gave me such a dirty look when I covered my paper, like it's my fault for not cheating."

"You gotta admit though, he's got killer jawbones," Gianna says, looking him over appreciatively. "So sexy."

_Killer jawbones huh?_ I turn my gaze to him, tracing up his jawline. And then my plain brown eyes meet his dark chocolate ones, and I'm gone. _Shit he's looking at me. He's looking at me. Damnit! Do something Anjali! Smile! Wink! SOMETHING!_ I panic, turn bright red, and look back down at my paper. _Great Anj. Real sexy. you probably looked like a deer about to be hit by a semi-truck._ _A cherry red deer too, not a cute Bambi one._

"Hello? Earth to Anjali?" Gianna snaps her fingers in front of my face.

"Ahh! I'm here!" I jump knocking my quill off the desk. I glance over at James as I bend down to pick it up, and once more awkwardly meet his gaze.

"No you weren't, you were definitely staring at Potter," Ashton states.

"You're insane," I roll my eyes at her and bend back towards my work.

"Stay away from him Anj, he's bad news," Ashton whispers to me as I sneak just one more peek at him.

I think I've got my crush for the year. And of course he's got to be the most wanted, arrogant prick in the school. Yeah, this year's going to be a blast…


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to upload! Writer's block is a bitch, not to mention college has been absolutely INSANE. For someone never involved with drama in high school, I've had way too much of it lately. Anyways, reviews make me incredibly happy, let me know if you love it, like it or hate it :)**

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"You're doing it again." Ashton mutters to me, under her breath.

"GAhhh sorry," I groan, tearing my eyes away from the object of my unrequited affection.

Three weeks later we're writing our transfiguration essays in our remote corner of the library, and I'm still hopelessly attracted to Potter. We'd been working diligently for a good hour and a half when Potter had appeared and set up his books at the table a few stacks away. On the bright side, I'm 5 galleons richer since I got my crush on the first day, beating my friends' bets.

"He's so not worth it Anjali. He's a pompous arse who thinks just because his daddy is the savior of the wizarding world he can do anything."

"But have you _looked_ at him?! I swear his jawbones could cut steel. And his eyes, holy hell, you could drown in them." I twirl my quill absentmindedly running it over my lips, glancing over at him. As if he can hear me, he smirks and raises his eyes slowly to meet mine. _Holy hippogriffs what if he heard me?!_ I flush and hurridly turn back to the thick tome in front of me, scribbling on a scrap of paper as though I've been taking notes.

"You're safe Shakespeare, he's focusing on his work. As you should be, instead of spouting poetic imagery," says Ashton, smacking me on the back of my head.

I pretend to concentrate on the notes I should be taking, but I'm conniving ways to talk to him. _I should go ask him a transfiguration question. And we could meet up later to study and we could fall in love and live happily ever after and have hundreds of finely jawed babies….. Eh a girl's got to dream right?_

"Okay, I'm pretty much finished. I think I'll stop by the kitchens and pick up some hot chocolate before bed, do you want anything?" Ashton says standing and stretching.

"Ashhhh! But I'm not finishhhedd."

"Hmm. Seems like a rather personal issue."

"Hrrmmph," I make an indignant noise of some sort and cross my arms.

"So I take it you don't want anything from the kitchens?"

"Oh bite me."

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It's been a good 2 hours since Ashton left for bed and I haven't progressed past the 4th chapter.

"Aghhhh," I groan, slumping forward onto _Anciennte Tranfiguration_, the thickest most boring book in the library. I close my eyes and sigh, only to jerk back up and begin violently coughing on the century old dust I'd just inhaled.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm *cough* fine *cough cough* thanks." I sputter looking up to see the one and only James Sirius Potter.

"Hi." I blurt awkwardly.

"Hey are you studying for transfiguration?"

"Trying to," I gesture at the books and notes spread out over the table.

"Can I borrow this?" He asks, pulling _Anciennte Tranfiguration _towards himself.

"Have at it."

He closes the book with a thud, releasing a new dust cloud that we both try to wave away.

My eyes linger over his form as he slides into the seat beside me. I slump forward once more trying to strategically fan my hair out.

"Did you just get highlights?" James reaches over to twirl a blonde streak in his fingers. _HA! Yes! Score one for Anjali, my strategic hair worked!_

"Actually I got them over the summer," I smile.

"They look good," he comments with a crooked smile and looks back down at the book.

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Three glorious hours later, I practically float back to my dorm.

"Anjali?" A whisper rings out in the otherwise silent room. Emery sticks her head out of her covers, "Anjali Bose, what do you think you are doing sneaking back in at 2:34am?"

"You'll never guess," I state smugly, not able to keep the grin from my face. "I was with James Potter."

"WHAT?!" Emery practically shouts, bolting upright. "Did you at least use a condom?! We don't need more of his DNA in the world."  
"What's this about condoms?" Taiga says rubbing her eyes.

"Nothing! Go back to bed! I DID NOT have sex with him!" I quickly defend myself.

"WHO had SEX?"

"Great, now we're all up. Good going Emery." I say sarcastically.

"I didn't have sex with James Potter! We just studied Transfiguration together for a while."

"For a long while." Taiga mumbles digging back under her covers.

"Ughh guys, go back to bed." By now I'm in my pjs and I burrow into my bed, falling asleep quickly.

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I wake up super early the next morning, actually eager to get to class for once. Our uniforms don't leave much to customize, but I carefully apply some eyeliner and lip gloss, spritzing my favorite perfume a few more times than necessary.

"OoOOh Anj. Fancy anyone in particular?" Emery teases, throwing her scarf over her shoulder dramatically.

"Maybe…" I laugh.

It's 7:30 when we leave the room so we have time to leisurely walk to breakfast. We stroll into the great hall, and slide into our usual seats. I fill my plate absentmindedly, craning my neck subtly to search for James.

"Oi. Lovestruck. Your waffles are drowning." Taiga nudges me, and I realize my breakfast is under a good inch of thick brown syrup.

"Ughh ewww," I push the plate away and reach for a muffin.

"Well you brought it upon yourself. Stop staring at him, you look like one of his desperate bimbos." Ashton says as she butters her toast.

Right, so maybe my searching isn't as subtle as I thought. Mental note: work on creeping. Okay, that sounds really bad. But it's so true.

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Classes drag by even slower than usual. And I'm practically jumping with nervous energy by the time I get to Transfiguration. _Will he say hi? Do I say hi?! Legs crossed? No, I'll cross them at the ankles. Yeah, good. Okay, game time. Wait, should I look at the door when he comes in?!_ I hear him before I see him, laughing as he stumbles through the door with Fred a few minutes late.I look up to meet his eyes, but he's not looking. In fact, he doesn't look all class. Even when we pack up to go for lunch, and he brushes past me to get to the door. Nothing. _Yeah, of course. It was probably nothing. He probably studies with girls for hours all the time. I mean, we were just studying. We didn't even really talk that much. Yeah. Whatever. It didn't mean anything._ I'm rather morose for the rest of the day, until Emery suggests we go to our spot.

Now our spot is somewhere we've been going together ever since we discovered a secret passage from the castle to Hogsmeade in our 4th year. Rumor has it, it is where Remus Lupin, a war hero and a werewolf, used to transform when he went to Hogwarts. So midnight finds Taiga, Emery, Ashton and I creeping up the stairs of Honeydukes' cellar with a picnic basket. We slip out of the door, after restocking our favorite sweets and leaving money on the counter, and use our excellent ninja skills to navigate the dark deserted streets of Hogsmeade undetected. Three minutes later we stand before the gates of the Shrieking Shack, once thought to be the most haunted house in Britain, now a tired, ramshackle house bathed in silvery moonlight known as a famous war site. Ashton pulls loose one of the fence boards, and we all squeeze ourselves through. Laughing we skip up to the house and hop through a broken window. I set the basket down on the dusty worn rug and start to unpack the junk food, blankets and butterbeers.

"Let the night begin," I smile as I look around at my best friends.

"Sooo, Taiga," Ashton starts, "I hear Adam Drubaker is planning on asking you to the Halloween party."

"OoooOOoh!" We all chime.

"Ughh! Guys! You know I don't like him! He's just so sketchy!" Taiga shrieks. "Oh Merlin, what do I do if he asks me?!"

"No idea, do I look like I've ever had the problem of turning a guy down?" I snort my reply.

"Just say, thanks but no thanks," Ashton says sagely.

"No. You go, I love you like Lily Evans loved Severus Snape, protect my son." Emery adds. All of our heads swivel to look at her. She shrugs, "What too soon?"

"Haha maybe just a bit, hon." Taiga says, "Especially when you consider that he died here."

We talk and giggle and eat late into the night until the stars begin to fade. I feel much better after our girls' night. _James Potter is a no good arrogant toe rag. He is a useless waste of time and I am _going_ to get over this stupid crush. It's my seventh year for merlin's sake! It should be fun! _With that in my mind, I get out of bed the next morning with a new determination. Little did I know how hard it would be to get him out of my head….

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**AN: Review? Please? I promise I'll update sooner loves 3**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Sorry it's so short! I just had to get them through to mid/early october for the next chapter, but the next few should be up pretty fast. Thanks for reading! and I love getting reviews ;)**

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Wednesday night finds me sitting in the great hall, after dinner has been cleared away, humming softly to myself. We have a Charms test next week and I decided to get a head start on studying to avoid the low P I got last time. I hear voices as a small group of people enters the hall, and I think to myself that it sounds a lot like James but don't bother to look up because I'm _so _over him. Right? _Right. _

So I get back to my work, keeping one ear out. When I hear the conversation end and the group getting up I look up (anything to get away from studying) and I see James walking by, with two guys from the Gryffindor quiddich team. He's wearing sweatpants, a t-shirt and sneakers, which is different because he's always wearing a neatly pressed uniform.

He looks stunned for a second as his eyes meet mine, but he just says a simple "hello" and continues walking. I of course panic, squeak a "hi," blush, and look back down. _Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh. He said HELLO! And he definitely looked surprised in a good way when he saw me, is that a good sign? Does he like me?! Wait. NO. Focus. He's a pig headed prat remember? Oh shush. It's not like anything will come of the crush, and it feels good to like someone. To get all excited and happy when they make eye contact or say hi. Just don't expect anything to happen, got it Anjali? Yep. Sure. Gotcha. SO OHMYWIZARDGOD he looked so hot in his quidditch practice kit! _

This is such a bad idea…

* * *

"Welcome to the first quidditch match of the year! Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor!"

Each side erupts into cheers as their team bursts out onto the field, the Slytherins cheering Ravenclaw for the most part and Hufflepuffs just cheering in general. My eyes immediately seek out James shaking hands with Harper Lin, the Ravenclaw captain.

"Ravenclaw's captain and seeker Harper Lin shakes hands with James Potter, captain and keeper of Gryffindor. Beating for Ravenclaw is Louis Weasley and Stephan MacMillain, chasers are Lysander Scamander, Rose Weasley and Erica Brint, and keeping is Boris Wiltkin. The deadly combination of Dominique Weasley and Fred Weasley beating for Gryffindor, Jon Thornton, Perri Jordan, and Kendall Henderson are the chasers, and seeking is Lily Potter.

"Annnnnddddd THEY'RE OFF!"

I love going for quidditch matches, but I rarely focus on the game. I like the feeling of the crowd and the cheering for my team, but the game flies by in a blur of red, gold, blue and bronze.

"Ravenclaw calls a time out, and the score stands at 70-90 Gryffindor."

"YEAHH GO GO GRYFFINDOR GO GO GRYFFINDOR!" The red and gold part of the stadium explodes into chaos and cheer.

"Alright, Ravenclaw comes back onto the field, Weasley and MacMillian look like they have a plan brewing."

"AND LIN TAKES THE SNITCH! RAVENCLAW BEATS GRYFFINDOR 230 TO 110! GO RAVENCLAW! SUCK ON THAT GRYFFIES!"

"MR. BELL! Language!"

The Gryffindor team slinks off to their locker rooms as Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hufflepuffs swarm the field, lifting Boris into the air. The Gryffindors mutter congratulations and clear out back towards the castle.

* * *

"Yo Anjali! What are you doing tonight?" Taiga calls as I walk into the Hufflepuff common room.

"Dunno, maybe study for that Charms test? Break out the runes if I'm feeling motivated?" We walk down towards our room.

"Wellll while that sounds so so tempting, guess who got 4 invites to the Ravenclaw Victory Party?!"

"YOU?! NO WAY!"

"Yeah, Adam invited me," Taiga rolls her eyes, "I'm not going with him though so you have to come too."

"Hahaha I don't know…."

"You're coming. Emery's in, but I haven't been able to convince Ash."

"And why'd you think you'd be able to convince me so easily?"

"Anj, you are verrrryyy susceptible to peer pressure. And I know you love me," Taiga hugs me. Still hugging we stumble into the room and promptly trip over Jinx.

"GAhhhh!" I cry slamming to the floor. "Taiga. Have I mentioned-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You hate the cat." Taiga responds rubbing her knee.

* * *

"Guys. Are you sure about this?" I ask turning in the mirror, pulling my skirt down.

"Anj. You look fantastic," Emery says pulling her hair up.

"You should come with a waiver, cuz you're drop dead gorgeous girl," Taiga adds.

"I think I look borderline slutty…. But if you guys say so," I say sitting on my bed and pulling a pair of black heels on.

"The point is to dance on that fine line, between slutty and flirty. And you my friend are dancing like a mad woman."

"Thanks, Em."

I'm wearing a black leather skirt and a pale pink lace tank top and a black tank underneath. Taiga did my make up, smoky, dark, and dramatic. Totally the opposite of my everyday look. Emery looks gorgeous in a tight emerald dress, and Taiga stuns in mustard colored shorts and a maroon crop top.

The three of us walk to the Ravenclaw tower, me wobbling a bit in my heels, but we manage to make it there without me breaking an ankle. The party is in full swing when we arrive. Almost everyone from 5th year and up is here, from all houses including Gryffindor. Taiga grabs our wrists and pulls us to the bar.

"Three firewhiskeys, with a dash of pumpkin juice," she demands, hands on hip.

A few seconds later our drinks appear and we take them, disappearing into the crowd. I take a sip of the drink, it burns as it goes down but it has a nice pumpkin spice aftertaste. Taiga and Emery get pulled off to dance by some boys, and I sit by the fire talking to Elissa, a Slytherin girl from my Arithmancy class. About halfway through the cup, I'm feeling very warm and very happy. Suddenly James Potter comes out of nowhere and plops in the arm chair across from me. He looks at me and goes, "Ananananjali!" He fumbles through my name and points at me, looking very proud of himself for remembering.

"Close enough," I laugh. "Great job in the game today, I mean even though you didn't win."

"Thank you, thank you, it means the world to me," he gestures around wildly.

"Jamie-poooo," a squeal screeches in my ear and even James flinches. Samantha Smart, seventh year Slytherin and Head Girl, jumps onto James's lap and proceeds to wrap her tentacles- sorry, arms around his neck and suck his face.

"Ewww." Elissa says, pretending to retch. "That's definitely not sanitary."

"Hmm yeah doubtful. Who knows where those lips have been," I joke, trying to tear my eyes away. _Of course he'd never like me. I'm not the type of girl guys like him notice. I knew it was a stupid idea._

"You know," Elissa starts, eyeing me, "You're a billion times the person she'll ever be."

"Huh?"

"You shouldn't need to pull down your shirt and hike your skirt up to attract a boy. You'll get one. A decent one, who sees you and not just your boobs." She says, drains her drink and stumbles off.

_She's right. I shouldn't need to. But what else am I supposed to I do?_


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Two chapters in one day, I know, I know I'm awesome. Next one might take a bit longer since classes start Monday...REVIEW for more two chapter days :)**

* * *

"OH MY GOD! For the last time! NO I WILL NOT GO TO HOGSMEADE WITH YOU! Grrrahhh!" Taiga humphs brushing past a dejected sixth year Ravenclaw whose face is now covered in the chocolate hearts he'd gotten her. It's mid-October and the first official Hogsmeade visit is this weekend.

"Sorry mate, you should have listened to her the first time." Emery says, plucking a chocolate heart off his face and popping it in her mouth as she follows Taiga out of the Great Hall. "Props for the chocolate though! It's really good," She calls over her shoulder as she runs after Taiga.

"Oh poor Adam," Ashton says to me. "He just came on too strong."

"Poor Taiga," I reply. "You'd think she was actually his Lily Evans, he just won't give up."

"Well he's got less than a month till Halloween to get it together."

"He's just got to stop asking her in front of the entire school. Most girls don't like all that fuss," I say standing up.

We gather our books and head to the dungeons for Potions, my favorite class aside from Runes.

* * *

Today we're making an Elixir to Induce Euphoria, and the room is filled with cheerfully bubbling potions. You know when your crush is across the room and you laugh a little harder, talk a little louder, so that just maybe they can notice you. Yeah that's also happening. I laugh way too loud at something Ash says, my eyes always on him. Standing over his potion, looking so relaxed, stirring as he grins at Fred's antics.

"Hello? Earth to Anjali?" Ash waves her hand in front of my face.

"Yeah? What sorry, I'm here." I tear my gaze from him and focus on my annoyed friend.

"I told you your potion was burning and you laughed this really creepily loud laugh. Are you all here? Mentally?"

"OH SHIT!" I yelp, jumping to save what I can of my potion.

"Language, Miss Bose."

"Sorry Professor Slughorn," I say hastily.

"Just don't let it happen again," he says leaning over James's potion. "Mmm excellent work Mr. Potter. Much like your father."

"Thank you Sir," James replies adding the seven castor beans.

"Unfortunately I can't say the same for yours Mr. Weasley, not unlike your father either are you?"

"Thank you Sir." Fred replies with a joking salute.

Most of the class laughs and somehow my eyes meet those hazel brown ones I've been dreaming of. It's like a rush. It just makes you so happy, it seems like everything in the world is right. And when he smiles your world explodes. And when he smiles at you, you're blinded by the sheer perfection. A sliver of your soul slips out and hangs in the air for him to take, slowly, slowly, until he has all of you.

I sigh and tear my eyes away. I'm never going to be that girl that he wants. _Ughh girl. I thought you were over him. He's never going to be interested so just stop. _I sigh again and begin to stir clockwise 9 times.

Sometimes I wish I could just shut it all off. Stop thinking about everything. Stop my eyes from raking through the crowd. Tell my heart to calm the fuck down and stop trying to leap out of my chest. I don't want to be searching the crowd, spotting that one face from way across the corridor. I don't want to have a crush. I don't want this sick stupid obsession. I just want someone to finally notice me back, the way I notice him. But that's why they call it a crush, because they pull you up so high you feel like you're soaring, up above the clouds in that brilliant blue, and then you snap back into reality and tumble back, down, down, down to earth.

* * *

Friday morning starts much the same way as the previous day. With Adam Drubaker trying to convince Taiga to go on a date with him, as the next day is a Hogsmeade visit. And her dumping the flowers down his shirt.

"C'mon Taiga, maybe you should give it a go?" I whisper across the table, keeping my eyes on Professor Buierig.

"Anj's got a point. You never know what might happen and he seems very persistent. Just go with him tomorrow and see how it turns out? Couldn't hurt," Emery agrees.

"Alright fine. You two have a point, maybe it could be interesting at least," Taiga sighs.

"Miss Beckham, could you translate that rune for the class," Professor Buierig cuts in.

"Of course professor," Taiga says smoothly, easily finishing the translation and shutting up Professor Buierig in the process.

* * *

"So what're you going to wear?" That afternoon Emery bounds into our room and goes straight to Taiga's wardrobe.

"Dunno, clothes?" Taiga says flopping on her bed.

"Noo it's your first date, you gotta wear something cute!" Ashton supplies.

"If he decided to ask me out after seeing me in this god awful uniform," she gestures down her body, "he probably won't care."

"Touché, but still," I say propping myself up on my elbows.

"Here," Emery says pulling out a pair dark skinny jeans, and a purple tank with a cream colored sweater.

"Perfect!" Ashton exclaims.

* * *

The next morning we get Taiga ready in a flurry of excitement and giggles and see her off like proud mothers. After watching her grudgingly accept the flowers Adam had gotten her, we head out to Hogsmeade ourselves. Our first stop is always Honeydukes to stock up on sweets, and then on to the 3 Broomsticks for butterbeers. A few hours later we find ourselves roaming in the less trodden back alleys of Hogsmeade.

* * *

"C'mon! Do it!"

Our breath fogs up the frosty window as we peer into the tattoo parlor.

"You've always wanted to," Emery nudges me. "Go for it!"

"Okay. Here we go." I push open the door and walk in confidently, as a small bell peals to announce my arrival. The witch at the counter looks up from her magazine disinterestedly. She has chin length light blond hair with hot pink tips, and multiple piercings in her right eyebrow.

"What can I help you with?"

Emery and Ash stand behind me.

"I want to get a second piercing," I manage to say more confidently than I feel.

She narrows her eyes, "Your parents okay with this?"

"I'm 17."

She looks me up and down once, shrugs and pulls out a clipboard.

"Fill out this form, and pick out which earrings you want," she says gesturing half heartedly to the glass case.

15 minutes later I walk out of the store with a new small silver stud in each ear.

* * *

As October draws to a close I start to notice a change. Gradually, slowly, I'm changing. With the piercings I feel like a different person. A more confident, more interesting person. I begin to just say what I'm thinking, because hell, I've got two earrings in one ear, why shouldn't I say what I think. I'm starting to find who I really am. A blunt, self assured, punk-edgy girl. All I need is a leather jacket and my new badass outlook will be complete.

* * *

"Hi I'm Dominique." A girl with light strawberry blond hair says, bounding up to me and sticking out her hand. I'm sitting under a tree soaking up the last few rays of summer and pretending to study Arithmancy.

"Hey, Anjali," I say, a bit surprised but I put my hand out to meet hers.

"Oh thank god. Usually when I introduce myself people either say 'Oh Dominique Weasley?' or 'I know who you are.' So so boring," She sighs, plopping down on the bench next to me.

"Glad to be of assistance," I laugh, pushing my hair behind my ears.

"So when did you get them?" Dominique asks, gesturing to my ears.

"How did you notice? I got them done last Hogsmeade visit." Self-consciously I touch the new wounds.

"Oh, I know the signs. When it's the right person, and the right moment you become yourself." She pauses, "It's like you feel freer right? More liberated, more rebellious. And at the same time, more complete?" Dominique finishes looking at me.

"Yeah," I reply slowly. "That's exactly it. How…?" I trail off looking at her in wonder.

"Your new found confidence. The bounce in your step. Oh and these," Smirking, she pulls her hair back to reveal 4 piercings in one ear and 3 in the other.

"Wicked," I grin.

Turns out Dominique is in my Arithmancy class, so we study and chat out under that tree for a while. Her sarcastic attitude and quirky personality clicks easily with my newfound self and we make plans to study/hang out later in the week.

* * *

**AN: sure a bit sappy/weird at parts, but let me know what you thinkkkkkk**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry it's been an unexcusably long time since the last update. College classes are a bitch. So is boy drama. Thank you to all of you lovely readers for the support, especially Dawn Elliot and WhatsTheTimeMrWolf for their reviews that reminded me that people are still interested in reading my work. Reviews = motivation to write, more reviews = faster chapters. REVIEW! And more to come faster soon, I have the next few chapters outlined a bit so yay! Also, I'm no JK Rowling and I don't own anyone/anything you recognize. READ ON!**

* * *

"Anjali! ANJALI!" I turn to see Dominique running up to me. It's been a few weeks since she introduced herself to me and we've been hanging out a lot since.

"Hey Dominique, what's up?" I stop in the hallway to greet her.

"What're you doing next Saturday night?"

"Umm next Saturday? No clue, but I feel like I will in a few seconds."

"Right you are, the Potter-Weasley Halloween Extravaganza!" She flourishes into a bow. "We're going shopping for costumes this weekend, so clear out your schedule."

"But Saturday's the quidditch match and it's not a Hogsmeade weekend."

"I have my ways," Dominique winks and saunters away, slipping mysteriously behind a tapestry.

"Convenient tapestry Dom," I call, continuing on my way to the library.

"Thanks Anj," she calls back in a muffled voice.

* * *

Fridays are always the worst days. No wait, Fridays before quidditch matches are the worst days. No one pays attention in class because we're all anxiously awaiting the weekend. Especially this weekend, if Slytherin wins they'll be the favorites for the Cup. If Hufflepuff wins, well, then Ravenclaw and Gryffindor have a chance. Two years ago the Hufflepuff team dominated the school, unfortunately after our star player Daniel Mclaggan graduated, we've fallen quite a bit. And by quite a bit I mean we're a complete joke.

"Alright class, last week's exam went well for most people, for others," Professor Vector pauses to glare at a few people, "study harder next time"

Finally Professor Vector passes back my Arithmancy exam, and I glance at the top. _Ughhhh a P, I gotta do better than a Poor in Arithmancy._ Up until this year I'd gotten E's in this class, but this year was more challenging. _Need to study more Anj, this can't happen again. You need an Acceptable in this class if you want to be a healer._

After class I drag myself to the Library and start writing the Arithmancy essay due on Monday.

* * *

About an hour and very little progress later...

"YO ANJALI!" Emery bounds up to my table followed by Ashton.

"Ms. Smith! This is a library, NOT a quidditch pitch!" Madame Pince shouts at her.

"SORRY." She calls back, as Madame Pince shakes her head and goes back to shelving books. "So Anj," Emery leans her elbows on my table and Ashton closes books one by one. "Guess what you're doing?"

"Studying Arithmancy like a good student?" I offer weakly.

"WRONG!"

"Ms. Smith! Next time it's points off!"

Emery waves her off, "Honeydukes run, then the Shack. Let's go."

"But I gots to study!" I protest, pulling one of the books back open.

"Taiga's already at the Shack."

"Well, who am I to argue with that," I say packing up my things and following them out the door. As usual we stay up too late and eat too much candy, but tomorrow is Saturday, and no one ever looks back and remembers the nights they got enough sleep.

* * *

The next day Hufflepuff miraculously manages to crush Slytherin. Since we are Hufflepuff though, the after-party is open to all houses. Emery and Ashton decide to stay in, as they both have Divination essays due on Monday, so Taiga and I get ready together and meet up with Dominique. Taiga is already wearing a short black leather skirt and heels to match that emphasize her long legs, topped off with a sheer black blouse and a red bandeau, when I get out of the shower. I quickly pull on short red shorts, a gold tank top and a denim vest as Taiga finishes curling her hair.

"Knock knock," a voice says, followed by two raps on the open door. Taiga and I, both halfway done with our makeup, turn to see Dominique wearing tight silver leggings and a low teal tank top.

"Dayyumm girl! You look super sexy," Taiga exclaims.

I run over and wrap my arms around her, "Your hair is SO straight, this must have taken you FOREVER!"

"Uh, magic, remember?" Laughing we link arms and head out.

Taiga, Dominique and I walk to the 3rd floor corridor, a once forbidden place that now hosts most of the parties. As we climb the stairs the staircase begins to move.

"Shit!" I cry out as I lurch into the hard stone and I hear a "Merlin!" from someone behind me. The staircase jolts into place, and we climb off onto a landing on the 2nd floor.

"Yo! It's Dom!" I turn to see two boys climbing up the stairs.

"How's it going?," Dom says shaking her slight strawberry blond hair out of her face. "This is Taiga and Anjali." She motions to each of us in turn, and I give a small wave and a grin at my name.

"Hi, I'm Jason and this is Tony." The boy with shaggy black hair gestures to one with dirty blond hair. We sit on the ground and talk as we wait for the stairs to change once more. Eventually we make our way to the corridor and slip into the party.

The music pulses and strobes of green light cut through the fake fog. Our group forms a small ring and begins to dance. I sway my hips from side to side, raising my arms in the air. After a few songs, Tony leans across the circle, "Want to dance?"

I pause for a second and look at him, "Sure, why not." He moves to position himself behind me and we grind for a while. _OHMIGOSH! I've never grinded with a guy before. Is this how? What am I doing? Am I doing it right?_ A million thoughts are racing through my head. Every once in a while his hands leave my hips to ghost along my sides. I'm trying my best to keep my tummy sucked in so he won't feel my chubbiness. After a bit he backs away, and I figure he's done dancing with me because I have no idea how to dance, but he holds on to my wrist and spins me around so I'm facing him. Now we're grinding front to front and I have even less experience with this. I put my arms around his neck, and his return to my hips and lower back. I glance back at Taiga and Dominique to see them chuckling at me.

"Are they giving you tips?" He whispers in my ear, his hot breath sending chills down my spine.

"No," I laugh, "although I probably need them."

He chuckles softly and pulls me closer. He dips his head down a bit, angling it towards my face._ He's trying to kiss me! Wait, is he? He doesn't seem very drunk, maybe just buzzed. Do I want him to kiss me?_ Honestly I kind of do._ But I've never kissed anyone, should I kiss him? Just to get my first kiss over with?_ Lately I've been thinking about it a lot. It doesn't have to be amazingly romantic and special, but I want my first kiss to have some meaning. Not with someone I've only just met. _But I want to know what it feels like. No, I can't. What would I tell my daughter if she asked about my first kiss? That I kissed some guy at a party? And I didn't even know his last name? Yeah, NO._ I make my decision and lean my forehead into the crook of his neck. He lightly runs his hands up and down my sides, feeling but not forcing anything or making me feel uncomfortable. One hand runs down almost to my butt, and part of me wants him to go farther, but it glides back up to my back as light as a feather.

We dance together for what feels like forever, but he doesn't move away so I don't either, and eventually the party begins to die down.

"Hey Anjali," Dominique taps me on the shoulder and Tony and I break apart. "We're heading out, you?"

"I'll come with," I reply quickly. "Thanks Tony, I had a great time," smiling I pull away from him.

"Yeah, me too Anjali. I'll see you around," he smiles and walks off.

"He's useless," a male voice sounds in my ear and I jump.

"Merlin's balls, James! Where the devil did you come from?" Dominique jumps, and whacks his head.

"Cool it Domino, watch the hair," James says futilely trying to smooth his untamable hair.

"Domino?" I laugh.

"Shut it Jamie," Dominique looks at James murderously. "Let's go," She says, grabbing my arm.

"Wait up," James says. "I'm leaving too, I'll come with."

"Ughh fine," Dominique sighs. Turning to me as we walk out onto the landing, "A couple friends of mine are meeting up in the Astronomy Tower, you wanna come?"

"No thanks Dom, I'm really tired. I think I'll just go back to my dorm."

"Haha of course, anyone would be tired after _that_." She winks at me and pulls at James's arm to drag him off to the Tower.

"Nah Domino, not tonight. I'm pretty beat too," James says pulling his arm out of her grasp. "I'll walk Anjali back to her dorm, make sure she gets back okay and then I'm going to crash."

"STOP CALLING ME DOMINO!" Dominique stomps her foot and storms off.

"She going to be okay?" I ask him, gesturing after her concernedly.

"Oh yeah, she'll be fine. She hasn't had that much to drink, most of it's an act, you know her flair for dramatics."

"Haha true, okay if you're sure." _OHMYGODS YOU"RE ALONE WITH JAMES POTTER. please don't fuck this up Anj. please._

"So, to the Hufflepuff quarters?" James asks, offering me his arm.

"That's sweet of you James, but you don't really have to walk me back. I'll be fine, I didn't drink tonight at all." _Okay, good, very smooth, very smooth. Keep it up._

"No no. You never know with the dark haunted hallways of old Hogwarts," James insists.

"Well if you're sure."

We walk mostly in silence, luckily the Hufflepuff dorms are close enough that the silence doesn't get too too awkward.

"Well, this is me," I say nervously as we reach the entrance to my common room.

"Cool, have a good night Anjali." He turns to leave. _See, he's just a normal human being. This wasn't so bad, was it? Just be cool._ "By the way," he adds, walking backwards away form me, "loving the Gryffindor pride." He winks and swivels to walk normally.

_he winked at me. he WINKED at ME. oh. my. pumpkin. pasty._


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: HAPPY SUMMER! to those of you who aren't stuck inside working like me, at least...but this summer job is good for cranking out chapters. Never fear, there are2 chapters basically done, but I'll keep y'all in suspense for another day. Mwahahahaha. Leave me a reviewww cuz you love meee. Toodles.**

* * *

"MORNING SUNSHINES!"

Bright white sunlight streams into the room as something yanks the curtains back.

"argghhhhh"

I hear disgruntled groans as Emery pulls herself up.

"What the bloody hell?" She practically growls. I snuggle deeper under my covers, trying to block out the chaos in the room.

Suddenly my blankets are pulled off of my bed,

"Ughh what?" I open my eyes blearily, curling into a ball against the cool air. "Dominique? What in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

"Yeah, how the hell'd you get in?" Ashton asks, shaking the still soundly sleeping Taiga awake.

"Wow I can practically feel that welcoming, cheery Hufflepuff spirit pouring off of you guys, stop I can't handle it," she says sarcastically.

"Now, get ready losers, we're going costume shopping!"

"Where? It's not a Hogsmeade weekend, and I'm not about to spend a lot on a costume," a muffled voice says from buried under Taiga's blankets.

"Just meet me by the kitchens in 15 minutes. Trust me."

* * *

"Where is she?"

"She said the kitchens right?"

"Yeah, she'll probably be here soon, just give her a minute."

"There she is!" I spot her coming down the corridor, two younger girls trailing her. The younger one had straight brown hair, kind blue eyes and freckles dotting her pale skin. The taller one had bushier auburn hair, with the same blue eyes and pale skin.

"Hey, sorry I'm late, bedhead here wouldn't get up," Dominique says bounding up to us nodding to the older one, who grumbles and makes a face at her.

"This is Lucy, 5th year, and Rose, 6th year. Both Raven-nerds, both my lovely lovely cousins," Dominique introduces, gesturing first to the brown haired girl and then to the auburn haired girl. "They need costumes too," she explains, "and Lily'll meet us by the tapestry." Lucy and Rose nod in understanding.

"What tapestry?" Emery asks suspiciously.

"The magic tapestry," Rose grins and follows Dominique and Lucy.

The four of us also begin to follow, a bit bewildered.

* * *

We walk to the seventh floor, and stop in front of a rather interesting tapestry of trolls doing ballet. Or attempting to at least.

"Ah, Lils must already be in," Dominique says and walks toward an ornate wrought iron door that I've never noticed before.

"How come I've never seen this before? I must've walked through here a million times on Prefect duty," says Ashton.

"Welcome ladies, to the Room of Requirement." Dominique flourishes her hands and twists the door handle, swinging it open. The door opens to reveal a large room, filled with racks and racks of colorful fabrics. As we step into the room, all gasping in awe, I see dressing room stalls and mirrors. Set up facing the stalls are a few large comfy couches, and a petite redhead already sprawled out on one skimming a magazine.

"Lily, darling, we've arrived," Lucy says, overdramatically swooping into the room.

"Finally! Dom, you told me to be here like a half hour ago! I totally did have time to get breakfast." Lily gripes.

"Yeah, well Rosie-posie wouldn't get up. Lily, this is Taiga, Emery, Ashton and Anjali," Dominique gestures to us in turn, "guys this is the one-and-only-except-for-her-grandmother-and-probab ly-many-others Lily Potter," she manages to gasp out in one breath.

"Hi," Lily grumbles darkly.

"I brought food," I blurt out, holding up the basket that Taiga and I had filled up in the kitchen as we waited for Dom. I don't do well with meeting new people. Usually, it just ends awkwardly. Thankfully, the Weasley girls don't do awkward, and they happily swarm around me picking muffins and pastries from the basket.

"I like you," Lily says to me through a mouthful of blueberry muffin. "You think ahead."

"Haha more like I never stop eating," I smile, eating my own pastry. _Aww yeah, score one for Team Anjali, his little sister likes me!_

"So, what's the deal here?" Taiga asks, "Does this room just produce clothes on clothes on clothes?"

"It provides whatever you want it to provide," Rose begins to explain. "Hence the name, Room of Requirement. One just needs to walk past the wall three times whilst thinking about what they need, and the room will appear. Of course it doesn't provide food since it is one of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration. It's also known as the Come and Go room. This is where Dumbledore's Army practiced when they were rebelling against Umbridge, and where they hid from the Carrows during the second war."

"Woah cool," Emery says.

"Yeah, we've been getting our costumes for Halloween from here because then they're one of a kind and also very very free," Dominique smiles.

"Unfortunately, the clothes don't last forever. They have a life of about 5 hours outside of the room. Victore found out the hard way when her clothes almost disappeared during a date," Lucy chuckles. "Luckily she'd only gotten her sweater from here, and she could just pass it off as leaving it somewhere. Worked out pretty well for her actually, she ended up getting the guy's jacket."

"So we'll just pick out our costumes and save them here until next weekend!" Lily says excitedly.

"Alright," Dominique cries, "FOR NARNIA!" And charges into the maze of racks.

* * *

About two hours later I've been a mermaid, a pirate, a black cat, and a dinosaur. Sighing I clump out of my dressing room in the dinosaur costume.

"Oh c'mon girl," Lucy exclaims. "How do you plan on getting any in that getup?" She's wearing black leather boots that come up just past her knees and a very short black leather skirt with a simple black tube top exposing her smooth creamy shoulders, perched in her hair are kitten ears.

Dominique is wearing a short brown suede skirt, brown boots, a flowy satiny cream button down blouse with a dark vest, finished off with a red bandana holding back her silver blonde hair and an eye patch.

Emery sports green stiletto boots that come up to her knees, and a form fitting green dress draped in fake ivy and she's facing the mirror playing with dramatic green eye make up.

"Poison Ivy?" I ask

"Yup," she grins.

Taiga has violently purple hair and is wearing a ripped Weird Sisters tshirt over tight black leather pants and black combat boots.

Rose comes over in a white button down shirt tucked into a tight red pencil skirt, her hair in a messy bun.

"Damn Rosie, Malfoy has no chance against that sexy librarian outfit." Dominique catcalls. "Don't try to kill the poor guy."

Rose blushes and says, "Lucy's right Anjali. Where did you even find that thing?"

"I dunno," I shrug. "Thought it might be fun, or different at least-"

"That's not going to get the right kind of attention from any guy, much less Potter," Ashton says coming over dressed as Belle, in a golden flowing ball gown and matching gloves that go up to her elbows.

I nearly whack Rose with my dinosaur tail (the costume comes with a tail, I mean c'mon that's freakin AWESOME) as I spin around to Ashton. Before I can yell at her with my eyes that she's just told three of my crush's cousins plus his little sister that I like him.

"Potter?" Dom says incredulously. "As in Jamie or Albus?"

"James," I sigh, turning to face them.

"Oh thank merlin," Rose breathes out, "Albus is more bent than a banana."

"What?" I say, utterly confused.

"He's gay sweetie," Dominique says bluntly.

"You need to wear this if you want to get James's attention." Lily comes out from behind a rack, wearing nothing more than a sea green sequined skirt and a purple bandeau, carrying a mass of shimmering gold fabric. "He's attracted to shiny things. This is perfect."

"Wait, so you all don't think this is weird? That I have a crush on your brother/cousin?" I ask, taking the costume from Lily's arms.

"Nope," Lily says popping the 'p' sound. "You seem pretty nice, plus you brought me food. Now try it on! I want to see if I was right!" She pushes me into the stall.

I slip the costume on and step out to gasps and applause.

"I knew it," says Lily triumphantly. "If he's not trailing her like a lost puppy by the end of the night I'll sleep on the Pitch for a week."


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: So I was planning on drawing out all my writing progress for at least a week. But my friend can't stand the anxiety. So thank her in the reviews if you like where this is goinggg. But voila.**

**p.s. Still not JK Rowling**

* * *

My alarm goes off twice and I shut it off in favor of sleep twice. 8am is really too early to have classes, especially on a Tuesday. Finally at 7:46am I roll myself out of bed and quickly get ready, not really paying attention to what I'm doing. The others are already at breakfast, and I pause just before I shut the door. _I feel like I'm forgetting something…..Nah, it's probably just because I got ready so fast. Sweater? Nah, shouldn't need it today._ Feeling slightly more confident, I shut the door behind me and speed walk to the Great Hall. I only have time to grab some cereal, under a rainy grey ceiling, and then run off to Ancient Runes. Something still feels off about today.

We're halfway through Potions when I discover what it is. Just last night I had decided that my period was so late it must be skipping this month, which didn't worry me too much, it usually skips once a year from stress or whatever. And just that minute during Potions, guess who decided to show up. I can feel the cold dungeon air settling on me, and my back starting to twinge. I lean over and feel around in my bag for a cramp relief potion and a pad. Unfortunately I feel neither. _Shit shit shit shit. I have to get out of here and get my potion._ Every month it's a race to get a cramp relief potion before the cramps set in. I slide Ashton a note, "Red Alert, you have any extra pads/potion?" Slowly she shakes her head and mouths a sorry.

"Professor?" I raise my hand,

"Ah, yes Miss Bose?" Slughorn turns from the board. Unfortunately class today consisted of notes, not potion making. So I couldn't just slip out the door quickly.

"May I go to the lavatory?"

"Yes of course, hurry back though. These notes are crucial for your NEWTs."

I stand up quickly, smoothing my skirt down, hoping there's minimum flow happening so far. I see Fred Weasley give me a strange look from across the room, but I don't have time to think about it as I try to leave the room as normally as possible. I shiver as I leave the cold dungeon. My back is aching and my knees hurt for some reason. I can feel the cramps starting and the cold did not help at all. My dorm's too far away, so I decide to get to the Hospital Wing to get pain potions first and then to my dorm to get a sweater. Slughorn's so old he won't know how long I've been gone, and Ash'll get my stuff if class ends before I get back. I hear footsteps behind me and I speed up, hoping to turn the corner before someone sees me, I'm not in the mood to deal with people.

"Anjali," I hear a voice call. I turn to see Fred Weasley approaching me very fast.

"Fred?" _Okay what? Why is _Fred Weasley_ coming after me? We're acquaintances, slightly more friendly after being partners for Transfiguration. But, huh?_

As he comes to a stop in front of me he pulls his sweater off. I am thoroughly confused.

"Here," he puts the sweater around my shoulders. "You looked really pale and shaky leaving potions, so I followed you. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Oh," _Wait, what?!_ "Um, thanks I guess. I'm, um, good though. Just-uh, girl things." _Could you be any more awkward, Anjali? Just a little more awkward and I think you'll break a universe record. _I pull my arms through the sleeves of the cardigan, the hem hangs around my mid-thigh.

"Oh, my sister gets bad cramps too," He reaches out and buttons one of the buttons near my navel. "I'll walk you to the Hospital Wing, just to make sure you're good. Plus, I know a short cut."

"Don't you need to take notes?" I ask, unable to really say anything else.

"Nah, I usually copy James's anyways," he shrugs it off, "I'll get them later."

We walk in comfortable silence for a while. I can't help myself from sneaking looks at him out of the corner of my eye. He has dark brown hair, tanned skin, almost the same color as mine, and surprisingly light eyes.

"Well, here you are." He says when we reach the Hospital Wing, after taking his short cut and emerging from a tapestry just down the corridor from the entrance.

"Thanks Fred," I say, "It was really sweet of you to walk me here."

"No problem," he says, turning to go back to potions. "I'll let old Sluggy know you're here so you don't have to come back to class."

Well this is confusing.

* * *

"And he walked you all the way to the Hospital Wing?" Emery asks in a hushed tone, probably the only time she's ever been this quiet in the library.

"Yeah! And I still have his sweater too," I whisper back. "How do I give it back to him? What the hell is the protocol for this? Do I have to?" I won't lie, it's so much cozier than my own and I'm reluctant to return it, even though I went back during break and put my sweater in my bag in case he asked for his back. It also smells really really nice.

"Isn't it obvious? He's SO into you!"

"Hey Anjali, Emery." Almost as if appearing out of thin air, none other than Fred Weasley comes over.

"Oh, hey Fred," Emery says giving me a meaningful look. "Sorry, but I'll be right back, I was just about to go scout out a book to help with this potions essay, any suggestions?"

"Oh yeah, James and I found a really good section over by the new potions books. Most of the books there are really helpful. If you still need help I can bring over the one I'm using."

"You are a lifesaver," she says patting his shoulder as she walks off. I try to communicate my panic at being left alone with my eyes, but she just smirks and leaves me alone.

"How're you feeling?" Fred asks as he lingers over the table.

"A lot better, thank you so much for your sweater," I manage to say fairly normally. I start to take it off to return to him, I mean that's probably what he came over for, right?

"No, no, you keep it. Looks better on you anyway," he laughs.

"I actually came over with these," he says, pulling out two chocolate bars. "Honeydukes finest.I wasn't sure if you liked almonds or not so I got one with and one without. My sister eats a lot of chocolate when she's on her period, and she says it helps, so I thought it'd help you too maybe." He blurts out, rambling a bit.

I chuckle and say, "haha yeah thank you. I like both, chocolate in any form is amazing."

"Haha good." He says. "Listen, do you need any help with this potions essay? James and I are almost done, and I know you missed most of the lecture today."

"Uh, yeah sure. I really am just bullshittng most of this, but I still need another paragraph."

Emery comes back a few minutes later with two heavy books to find Fred and I laughing hysterically. She arches one eyebrow and gives us both a weird look, to which we stifle our laughter and bend back over our parchment, giggling occasionally. _Huh. I'm fairly confident he's into me. He's really sweet, and he brought me CHOCOLATE. That's a game winner in my book. He's so funny too._ And slowly I start to wonder what all this means.

* * *

Wednesday passes in a blur of excitement for Halloween, which falls on a Thursday this year. That night Dominique pulls me out of the Great Hall after dinner to help her with some covert mission.

"Dom, where are we going? And why are we wearing all black?" I'm starting to get a little worried as she sneaks down a corridor ahead of me.

"Shhhhh! James and Fred wanted help with their Halloween prank this year, I'm the best at not getting caught so they need us to get some supplies." She presses herself up against the wall and slides along it like a spy.

"Us? They specifically needed _me_ to sneak around? I'm a klutzy mess." I say, walking normally until we come to a stop at a statue of a hunched over witch with one eye.

"Can you at least _pretend_ to be a spy?" She huffs and walks over to the statue. I glare at her until she answers.

"Fine," she rolls her eyes, "I just brought you along cuz I wanted to." She pulls her wand out and taps the witch's humped back. "Dissendium."

"Let's go," she whispers and lights her wand, climbing down into the passage.

"Gosh damn you and your dramatics Dominique," I mutter as I dodge cobwebs and ickyness following her down the narrow passage.

* * *

Turns out our mission was to collect as much candy as we could from Honeydukes (leaving the amount plus some extra in a pile of shiny gold galleons on the counter). Everything goes smoothly until on the way back Dom's hair gets snagged on a branch.

"AH!" She yelps, jerking back and dropping her bag and crashing into me. I'd been following too closely and when she jerked back into me I tripped over her and landed on the ground.

"Dom! Are you okay?" I ask concernedly. Both our wands went out when we dropped them so we're in pitch darkness.

"ACHOOO!" Dominique sneezes in reply. "Yeah, yeah I'm good."

We hear muffled voices from above us, and the passage opens to reveal James and Fred looking concerned and confused.

"Are you okay Dom? We heard a commotion," James says. As the light from the corridor spills into the passageway I reach for my wand and hand Dom hers.

"Anjali?" Fred says with surprise and offers me a hand. "What are you doing here?"

"Your psycho cousin dragged me into this," I say taking his hand and allowing him to pull me up out of the passage. He brushes a few leaves out of my hair, and I blush.

James and Fred summon all the candy that we spilled, and pick the bags up.

"Let's go Freddie, we gotta get this all set up," James brushes past me and walks ahead.

"Thanks girls!" Fred calls as he jogs to catch up to James.

* * *

"I swear Dom, he gave me the dirtiest look. And he didn't even acknowledge me. Last time I talked to him he winked at me after walking me to my common room. WINKED."

Emery, Taiga, Dominique and I are sitting around the fireplace in the Hufflepuff common room munching some extra candy that Dom and I had gotten.

"I thought he was possibly a little bit interested," I continue and reach for another chocolate frog.

"I don't know what his problem is," She says rolling an everlasting jawbreaker in her mouth.

"But what I do know, is that you've attracted a different member of the Weasley family." She looks at me sideways, "Freddie boy seems quite taken with you."

"TOLD YOU!" Emery says excitedly.

"But, but I like James…" I say.

"Why? He's being an ass." Dom says bluntly.

"Dom! That's your cousin!" Taiga admonishes.

"Eh, it's the truth," she shrugs. "Keep an eye out. I know Fred, and he's going to act on this soon. He's not one for waiting."

* * *

I didn't have to wait long at all.

Halloween morning dawned bright and sunny, with a bite of autumn in the air. Walking into the Great Hall with Ashton, we discovered what Fred and James had needed the candy for. They had charmed balloons full of candy invisible and levitated them about 10 feet off the ground. They'd spelled random spots on the floor to act as triggers and whenever someone stepped on a spot candy rained down on them.

"Hahahahhah this is awesome!" I exclaim walking into the Hall and catching a falling sugar quill. I spot the duo at the Gryffindor table and drag Ash over to them.

"Great job guys," I say bounding up to them. "This is fantastic!"

"Thanks Anjali," Fred says smiling.

James nods and busies himself with his eggs, my smile falters. Fred gives him a weird look and then turns back to us.

"Eat with us?" He gestures to the plates across from them.

"No thanks we're good," Ashton says, still slightly glaring at James's bowed head. "Emery and Taiga are meeting us at our table."

"Catch you later," I grin at Fred as Ashton and I leave.

* * *

The prank continued in the corridors, but with a twist. Some of the trigger spots triggered tricks instead of treats and the unfortunate student had their hair turned different colors. By the time Ashton and I walked into Transfiguration at the end of the day, my hair is cobalt blue and hers is bubblegum pink, but both of us have enough candy to last a year.

"Blue hair suits you," a deep voice says. I look up from my table to see James Potter standing in front of me.

"Oh, thanks. All your doing actually," I say feigning nonchalance as I twirl a strand of my apparently pretty blue hair. He grunts and continues to his seat with a nod.

"Eeesh, what's his deal?" Gianna says from my left.

"No idea…" I trail off as Fred sits down beside me and launches into an animated joke involving a troll and a goblin.

"Anj, you can go ahead, I have to talk to Professor Brown about something. I'll meet you at the dorm," Ash says to me after class.

"Okay, see you later," I hoist my bag onto my shoulder.

As I leave the classroom, Fred appears at my side.

"So my blue haired girl, where are you off to?"

"Probably the library to find a spell to undo the blue," I laugh.

"Ah no worries, it'll wear off by morning. Although the blue looks good on you," he says grinning.

"Mm so I've heard," thinking of my odd encounter with James.

"Good thing it wears off soon," I continue, "it would NOT go well with my costume."

"OoouuuoOOOhh," Fred says, "what's your costume?"

"It's a surprise. You'll see on Saturday," I say coolly.

"Speaking of Saturday, actually," he says, "I was wondering if you'd maybe like to go with me to the party."

"Oh sure, I was planning to come up to the Gryffindor tower anyway to meet Dom, I figured you were coming as well." I say, pretending to be oblivious.

"No, what I meant was, well -" He tries to say.

"Hahhha I know what you meant," I laugh, "I would love to go to the party with you."

He sighs in relief and chuckles, "Damn Anjali, don't do that to a guy."

"I'll catch you later then," he says walking to the staircase as I walk towards the corridor that leads to my common room.

"I'll be in the library," I call, "come be my study buddy!"

_Damn Anj. That was smooth. When did you get so good with guys._ I start to think that maybe going to the party with Fred is a really good idea. I don't feel nervous around him anymore and it's so easy for me to talk with him and I can even tease him. Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be. Maybe it's not supposed to be so hard to get a guy.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Because I love all you beautiful readers and I love the reviews even more. Enjoy :)**

**p.s. you're welcome for the super long chapters. don't get too used to them though. Also, not JK Rowling nor even remotely close to being British.**

* * *

"I'll catch up with you guys later," I say splitting away from Dominique and Emery as we leave the Great Hall after a late breakfast on Saturday.

"OoouuuOoooh," Emery goes, "Or maybe you won't. Maybe you'll be too wrapped up in something."  
"Or someone…." Dominique chimes in.

"Or someone's sheets….." Emery adds without missing a beat.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," I say rolling my eyes. Fred and I studied together Thursday night, and then hung out and pretended to get ahead on studying last night. So even though it's barely been a week since I started talking to the kid, I've been bombarded with teasing.

"Just make sure you're back by dinner to get ready for tonight!" Dominique calls as they continue on to the Gryffindor common room.

I go up to the seventh floor, taking a short cut Fred had shown me, and walk to the tapestry of the trolls.

I walk back and forth three times and think of the room that Fred and I usually meet in.

A plain wooden door appears and I push it open to see a small cozy room with two soft leather armchairs and a solid wood table in front of a warm fireplace. I pull out a book and start to outline the main points of my Transfiguration midterm paper.

* * *

"Sorry, I'm late!" Fred says, bursting in the door 20 minutes later. "Got held up talking to James about something. But I brought food!"

"haha no problem," I say shutting my book.

"How is James? He's seemed pretty moody the past week."

"Oh, he'll be fine," Fred shrugs it off, pulling a small box out of his bag. "He's just one of those eldest siblings who always gets what he wants."

He comes over to my chair and sits on the arm, setting the box on the table.

"oooh, whatcha get?" I ask.

"Chocolate cannolis! You really like those right?" He asks excitedly, opening the box.

"Oh yeah," I say, trying not to let my confusion show. _Uh, to be entirely honest, I've never had a cannoli. So, I wouldn't know if I really like them… Where the heck did he get this idea from? I do love desserts in general, maybe that's how?_ He seems so proud of himself for remembering, I decide to just go along with it. I pick one up and bite into it. The outside is crunchy and chocolate-y, balanced out by the sweet creamy inside. Oh yeah, definitely going to be getting more of these.

"Aw thank you Fred, these are really good!"

"'T's nothing," he says, munching on his own cannoli.

We fall into a good banter back and forth, chatting and munching. At some point he playfully challenges me to an Exploding Snap tournament and the room almost instantly supplies multiple decks of cards.

A few hours later we head back to our common rooms, giggling and covered in soot. As we reach the staircase, and our parting point, he reaches for my hand.

"I had a great time today with you, can't wait to see you tonight," he quickly kisses me on the cheek and practically speeds away. _Woah. That was interesting. Awww he KISSED me!_ I walk back to the Hufflepuff common room, happily thinking about Fred.

* * *

I meet up with Emery, Ashton, and Taiga in our dorm and we head to dinner. Midway through dinner Lucy comes over to our table.

"Hey guys, Dom wanted me to tell you all to bring all your makeup and stuff up to the Room in like 20 minutes so we can get ready for the party and then clear out of there before the boys come in to set up."

"Okay, thanks Lucy, we'll see you there!" Emery says. She's really excited to be Poison Ivy. Almost too excited actually, I had to convince her not to cover her lips with a sleeping potion that would put her "victims" into a short state of sleep. But hey, at least she didn't want to use real poison.

Soon we leave dinner to get our makeup bags and trek up to the Room of Requirement. As we reach, the ornate wrought iron door appears. Pushing it open, I see a similar room to the one last time we were here except now 8 vanities, set up in two lines of 4, mirrors facing each other take up most of the room. Pallets of different colored eye shadows, drawers full of every color eyeliner and lipstick are at each mirror, waiting for us.

40 minutes later, Dominique and Rose, who had attacked me with makeup, step back to look at their handiwork on my face. I had been planning on simple black eyeliner and red lipstick, and pulling my hair back into a ponytail. Not no make up, but just low key makeup. But of course that was shot down in favor of dramatic gold themed make up. Well, at least they kept my pony tail idea.

And I have to admit, they did a fantastic job. Gold eye shadow dusts across my eyelids and fades into orange edges, bold black eyeliner swoops out in little wings and makes my eyes pop. They had taken my suggestion of the red lipstick and improvised a little, adding a hint of orange. My hair is straightened and now just reaches my waist.

They pull me off the stool and push me into the dressing room. I slip on my dress, careful not to ruin my hair or smudge my makeup. The dress is warm gold, shimmery fabric, with a high neckline. The top is plain gold, and the waist flares out a little, like a skater skirt and stops about midway up my thigh. At the waist swatches of translucent red, orange, and yellow fabrics are sewn to look like flames. I set a thin gold glittery headband in my hair as the finishing touch. I am a phoenix.

"No." I state resolutely. "Absolutely NOT. I am not wearing heels." Everyone is done with makeup by now, and putting the finishing touches on their costumes.

"C'mon! They look SO sexy," Lily cajoles.

"I'll fall on my face."

"They're not that hard to manage, I can do it," she says.

"Yeah, sure, you're going barefoot though. You're one to talk."

"Lils, you really should wear some shoes," Lucy interjects as she zips up her tall boots. "You're going to hurt yourself."

Lily rolls her eyes and drops the heels next to me.

"Finee, I'll find something."

I follow her into the racks of shoes, determined to find something other than those ridiculous heels.

"Nuh uh. Definitely not. My baby sister is NOT going out looking like that." I hear a very male voice.

"But _James!_" _Oh. Great. He's here._

"Lily! You're wearing a bra and like the tiniest skirt EVER."

Stepping out from behind the racks I see James and Lily squaring off. Lucy and Rose sitting on the side and watching.

"James, she's 14, leave her be." Dominique says tiredly from behind Lily.

"Exactly she's ONLY 14!"

"Lily, why don't you make the skirt a tiny bit longer?" I say, joining in the conversation.

"Or find some green fishnets. That would look kind of mermaid-y," I try to appease both Potters.

"FINE!" Lily says, and stomps off.

"Thanks Anjali," James says, turning to me. "Wow, you look great."

"Oh, thanks," I say, "But it was all courtesy of your cousins and sister." _Why is he being so- so- so normal all of a sudden?_ He nods and turns back to Dominique.

"The rest of the boys should be here soon." He looks at his watch, "It's about 9, we'll be done in about an hour or so. Meet us in the passage around 10:15? Then we can head out by 11."

"Sounds good," she replies. "Alright, girls. Let's roll."

* * *

"Oh bollocks. I left James's bag, he wanted me to bring it to the passage," Rose says stopping in the middle of the hallway. We had goofed off for an hour and just begun making our way to the usual Potter-Weasley pre-party drinking spot, after shooing Lucy and Lily off to go hang out with the younger boys.

"I'll go back with you," I say. "You all can go get a head start on that drinking."

After stopping in the Ravenclaw Tower and grabbing James's bag and a large bag of ice, Rose and I stop in front of a ceiling to floor mirror on the fourth floor. She leans forward and raps on the silver surface 7 times in rapid succession, and the mirror slides to the side. As we step into the large cavern-like space, my eyes immediately go to James. He's leaning up against the wall, the candle near him making his eyes flicker as they lock on to mine. I go up to him and hand him his bag wordlessly, he nods back in thanks, still holding my gaze.

"Ughh James, why the hell'd you need a bag of ice too?" Rose says from behind me, dumping the ice to the ground. I turn around and notice Fred gawking at me with his jaw dropped.

"Holy hell," He sighs. "Rose, obviously it's to cool down that hottie. Hot damn, Anjali."

"You like it?" I giggle, and twirl, making the skirt flare out.

"Oh yeah, he likes it, it's quite apparent from this angle," a boy with the same messy black hair as James jokes, looking at Fred's crotch. I know it's Albus Potter just because when you hang with one of the Weasleys it's inevitable that the others are around at some point. Looking around the room I see the two Scamander twins.

"Hi, I don't believe we've officially met," he says, bringing my focus back to him. "Albus Severus Potter. Call me Albie and you're dead." He says seriously as he shakes my hand.

"Nice to meet you officially, I guess. I'm Anjali," I say somewhat lamely.

"That's Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, 6th years, as am I." he puts his arm around my shoulder as he points out the twins. Each boy gives a little wave as he says their name.

"Want anything to drink?" Fred asks, subtly pulling me away from Albus.

"Sure," I take the red cup he hands me. I'm going to need a little liquid courage to get through tonight.

* * *

At 11'o'clock on the dot Albus starts pushing us out the door. It takes a while, since all of us have had at least 9 shots, but eventually we stumble up to the Room of Requirement where the party is just beginning. Lucy, Lily, Hugo and Louis are already there as they were too young to be invited to drink. Not very many people have turned up yet so we begin dancing in a large group on the dance floor.

"There's no cute boys here to dance with yettttttttt," Dominique complains.

"Yeah," Taiga agrees and turns to me. "At least you have Fred. Dance with him!"

I look over at him to see that he has clearly heard Taiga and is looking back at me. I don't know why I'm hesitant to dance with him, it's not like I've never danced with a guy before, but it's just different to be grinding with someone you know. But I dismiss the feeling and shrug at him, raising one brow, silently asking if he wants to. He grins and comes over, grabbing my waist and pulling me close.

He doesn't even start with traditional grinding, but instead grinds with me front to front. He dances tastefully though, making certain we're not that obnoxious couple everyone hates. The alcohol's making my brain go fuzzy and I begin to wonder how much time has gone by. It feels like only a few seconds later, but the lights have gotten dimmer and many more people crowd the floor. I see Emery dancing with one of the Scamanders, but the whereabouts of the rest of our group is a mystery. I look towards Fred to see him looking at me. He starts to lean down towards me but he seems to stops himself, and instead slides his hands up from my hips to my lower back. The alcohol is definitely affecting my thought process and I know it, but I decide to go through with my thoughts anyway. Without giving myself too much time to think about it, I lean up against him, pushing off my tippy toes, and press my lips to his.

He reacts much faster and with much more passion than I ever expected for a first kiss. I don't know what to do with my lips, or how to keep up with how fast his are moving. After a few almost rough kisses, he seems to sense my panic, and slows down. Kissing me slowly, he holds me tight, and pulls away. I don't really know what to do so I just smile, and when he smiles back I rest my head on his chest and we resume dancing but it's reduced to more of a slow swaying.

"Hey, you want to get out of here?" He murmurs in my ear. I look around and notice the party has thinned out considerably and our entire group is gone.

"Sure," I say as we pull away from each other.

He grabs my hand and we walk to the door.

"The others are probably in the kitchens," he trails off as he holds the door open for me.

"Thanks," I say, "Shall we go meet them there?"

"Yeah."

We walk in a silence for a while. _Oh gosh this is weird. He can probably tell I have no idea how to kiss. He probably doesn't want anything to do with me now, he's just too nice to say it yet._

Finally, as I panic internally, he breaks the silence.

"So, um, are you okay with everything that happened tonight?"

"Um, yeah, yeah I'm fine," I say slightly unsure of where this is going.

"Was that, uh, your first…"

"Uh, yeah, sorry if I was just awkward and awful," I say blushing and looking down. He stops dead in the middle of the corridor.

"No, Anjali, you were fine, it was great," he puts his hands on my shoulders. "I'm sorry, I wanted to take this slow and not rush things. I wanted to make your first kiss special."

"Oh," _Woah. Dude. He's still into me?! He must really like me. _"You don't really need to apologize, I was the one who kissed you first. And I did it because I wanted to. I definitely don't regret it." _I mean I wish I was more experienced, but I don't regret Fred Weasley being my first kiss. Whether we work out or not as a couple, he's definitely going to stay someone special to me._

He hugs me and grabs my hand again as we continue to walk to the kitchens in a much happier silence.

We walk into the kitchen, amid the excited catcalls of our friends and smile at each other as we sit down at the large table. I notice James giving me an interesting look, but shrug it off and grab a few mozzarella sticks.


End file.
